Assassin's Creed: The Collections
by Cascadenight
Summary: One-shots, drabbles of our beloved characters in romantic to angsty situations. If you have a request, let me know!
1. Chapter 1

**I made an attempt at writing not only Assassin's Creed fic, but a fanfic of a fanfic because I am a hopeless romantic and a big fan of T.M. Wolf 's writing. Seriously, look them up and read their stories, they do an amazing job at descriptive writing, characterization and plots. Anyways, 'Cat is their OC and the rest is Ubisoft. Enjoy!**

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"You want me to what?" Catherine's voice comes out as a squeak.

Her eyes peer over the edge of a watch tower in Monteriggioni to a pile of hay meters below. The sun shines over the horizon, casting the city in a warm golden glow. She and Ezio climbed up to view the sky, something they did in the wake of deaths of his father and brothers. She was thinking of a way to get down when Ezio said the few simple words.

"Leap of Faith," he repeats, a grin on that handsome face of his. "You just jump and twist to land on your back on the hay below. You've seen me do it enough, yes?"

"Well, yeah, but that's different than actually doing it!" she huffs in response. "Isn't there a beginners jump? We're up so high."

"This is the perfect height," he brushes off her worry, escorting her to the ledge sticking out from the roof. An eagle cries out overhead, as if goading her. "I never thought little kitty 'Cat was too scared to try something new."

"I'm not scared," she mutters, crossing her arms. "I'm hesitant to do something so new and dangerous."

"You have been training under my uncle and his men for months, you trust them, no?" he inquires, raising a brow.

She furrows her own and nods. "Of course, I do."

"Then, you can do it," he leans in close, putting a hand around her shoulder and another on her arm. She swallows a lump in her throat as he adjusts her to stand behind him. "Watch, I will show you."

Catherine raises a brow, now he just wants to show off. She's seen him perform this trick more than once, she understands the form and the movements, it's the following-through part she isn't to keen on doing. Ezio stands tall in front of her, his broad shoulders pushed back and head held high. She can feel the pride radiating off of him and, with eyes glued to him, watches as he takes a long stride forward before lifting off the ledge. There's a whistle in the air as he glides, bringing his feet up to land on his back just in time to plop onto the hay as if it were a comfy bed.

"Come on!" he calls up, his face is bright with excitement.

"Okay, that isn't too bad... I can totally do this," Catherine takes a deep breath, bouncing on the balls of her feet a few times. "If he can, I most definitely can. And I'll look just as good doing it."

At the count of three, Catherine takes her own strides forward and before she can stop herself, she takes the leap. As soon as her feet leave the ledge, her stomach leaps into her throat the sky swallows her for just a second. Then she is falling and the world seems so much larger, the ground so much closer. Her body twists, she tries not to watch as the world flips around her, and she grins at the blue sky. The air rushing around her comes to a halt as she plops onto the hay and finds Ezio grinning down at her.

"Not too bad... I didn't even have to help," he holds out his hand for her.

She rolls her eyes with a snort. "And how would you have helped?"

"I'll always catch you," he grabs her forearm, pulling her upright and close to him. "Don't forget that."

The look in his eyes is enough to steal her breath away, she feels heat creep into her cheeks and trusts herself enough to smile at him. She takes back her arm and nudges him along the path back to the villa, the smile on her face left over from the high of the leap and the excitement of Ezio's presence. She'll definitely be coming back to practice that again.


	2. Grief

**This is my very first attempt at writing for Assassin's Creed, before the first chapter of this collection. The Animus and its effects are interesting and I like to think that Desmond has lots of trouble with it, which we know that he does. Besides the bleeding effect, I imagine he is able to connect with his ancestors with lots of empathy. Anyways, this is just a look at what that would be like using, of course, Ezio's family's deaths. This is cross posted on my tumblr as well!**

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Lucy has seen a lot in her time at Abstergo, and what she hasn't seen, she can leave to her imagination. And those imaginations were probably not too off either. The life of an assassin is never pretty and to make it through, you had to live and forget. Move on without taking time to see and allow yourself to become weak. She learned this fast, her only wish is that Desmond can too.

"Could you shut him up?" Shaun growls from across the room.

Desmond had called out from the Animus, an act that happens more often than Lucy would like. He is letting his emotions get too into the history. While she is impressed by his synchronization with his ancestor; he needs to draw a line. It wasn't this close with Altair, however, she suspects his experience with the assassin is the precursor to his synch with Ezio.

"S-sorry…" Desmond mutters, a film of sweat visible on his forehead through the clear visor. Almost immediately, he's lost to the memory once more, his tense body slackens and his eyes race back and forth across the screen.

"Maybe we should stop," Rebecca glances up from her laptop, her brows are creased.

Lucy's eyes flicker up to the dark haired girl's, this is the memory they knew about, everyone did. It was clear in the database, but they all doubt Desmond actually read the database. It would be better to stop now and debrief him before continuing, give him time to prepare…

"He's lying!" Ezio's voice cries out from Rebecca's screen.

"We should pull him out," Lucy moves to stand, her eyes growing wide in alarm.

"For God's sake, if he can't handle a few deaths now, he won't be able to later!" Shaun rolls his eyes from his spot. His arm swings out as he makes his argument clear. "Desmond is a big boy… Most of the time."

"No one doubts that, but I've never seen someone react like this to their genetic memories, who knows what will happen," Lucy responds in firm manner, her eyes tracking between Shaun and Desmond.

"Leave him be, he's fine."

And that's when the shouting starts.

"Father! I'm going to kill you for this!"

It's hard to hear where Desmond's voice starts and Ezio's ends. The young man begins flailing in chair, his body lashing out as if fighting an invisible force. Rebecca pulls the plug on the Animus, drawing down the memory until it fades. Lucy jumps across the room to pull Desmond out of the machine, dodging his punches to grab his arm and drag him out. Upon hitting the ground, Desmond stills, his mind reeling from the sudden change. Shaun groans from his spot, his hands digging into his scalp as he releases a sharp exhale. Lucy and Rebecca ignore him in favor of watching Desmond's eyes clear up and him become lucid.

"Desmond, it's not real," Lucy soothes him, moving forward to nudge him to sit upright. "It's like I've been telling you-"

"Yeah, yeah. I need to keep myself separate," he brushes her off, rubbing the beads of sweat off his forehead. His dark eyes are downcast as he stares at his trembling hands. "I just… It felt so real. Like I was there, like I was Ezio…"

"Desmond," Lucy's voice holds a warning tone.

"Listen," Rebecca intercedes, her hands coming up to hold a surrender pose, "that memory is strong. It's the turning point in Ezio's life, I am sure that could be what is happening… Let's take a break, Des, I need to get some fuel from the town before we continue. Some fresh air will do you good."

While her excuse was last minute, just enough to get Lucy and Shaun to stop mumbling, it's enough to get Desmond to relax. He hoists himself to his feet and offers a half smile to the dark haired girl. He knows she's using the supply run as an excuse, but he likes doing runs with her. She has the best humor on the team.

"Yeah, some fresh air will be good."


	3. Killer

**This is not a specific situation, I just like to see Shaun becoming less antagonistic towards Desmond as the latter's character gets better and better.**

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Shaun is used to death, he began watching horror movies as a teen. He didn't really like them, all the blood and gore created by a mindless killer. He's read about death and murder in all his history books, seen them in documentaries and, after being recruited by Rebecca, has seen some Templars be killed. It was nothing fancy, no rite into the brotherhood, just a simple kill to get him where he needed to be.

Working with Assassin's did not change that. He's seen people of different shapes and sizes come through, all of them looking tough, cold and calculating. That's the last thing he'd want to say about Desmond, ex-bartender extraordinaire. The man could barely read the database when he was supposed to. While he had skill in the animus, Shaun couldn't believe that those skills could transfer to reality no matter how much it would benefit him. He always felt safe in the presence of assassin's, even if he didn't realize it, but being in Desmond's presence just pissed him off.

Then he saw Desmond practice his free-running skills with Lucy. Shaun had to admit, Desmond looked like the real thing as he scaled the walls of the facility they were in. He would never tell the assassin that much.

Next he saw him take on for guards at once. That changed everything. The goofball gunk-for-brains turned serious at the drop of a hat. His golden eyes became dark, his lips became a straight line and his body tense. Shaun watched him cross the room in three easy strides and feint the first guard, grabbing the baton that was swung at him and twist around to slam it in the second guard's face. Somehow, he dodged a bullet aimed for him and twisted around to stab that guard in the gut with his hidden blade. The last guard was taken down with a slash to the throat.

Covered in blood and still feeling the rush of the fight, Desmond had glanced around for his next victim. When he came up empty, his eyes flashed and he was regular Desmond again, a bit dazed and a quieter than usual, but he wasn't a danger to his team. Shaun didn't want to admit it, but he knew that Desmond was an assassin and would make an even greater one later.


End file.
